Cincinnati Medicaid COVID-19 billing reaches $1,992,810 in 2024

In Cincinnati, Medicaid payments for services billed under COVID-19-specific HCPCS codes reached a minimum of $1,992,810 in 2024, based on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending dataset.

Medicaid is a public insurance initiative managed at the state level and financed in partnership by federal and state governments. It serves low-income people and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a central part of the U.S. health care network.

Since Medicaid is funded by taxpayers, shifts in local billing levels highlight how public health dollars are distributed within a community.

For this report, analysts identified COVID-19–related services by selecting HCPCS codes that were described or classified as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus” in billing records or reference materials. The totals only include services directly labeled COVID-related and exclude pandemic-related care billed under other codes.

By comparison, Marion led Ohio in Medicaid payments for COVID-19 services in 2024 with $10,818,404 in virus-specific claims.

There were 24 providers in Cincinnati who billed Medicaid for COVID-19–related services in 2024. The most frequently billed code, COVID Specific, amounted to $1,052,009.

On average, each Cincinnati provider received $83,034 from Medicaid for COVID-19–related services, below the Ohio state average of $119,792.

Spending on COVID-19–specific services made up a notable portion of Cincinnati’s Medicaid growth during the pandemic.

Across all other claims, total Medicaid payments increased by $261,187,039 from 2020 to 2024, an uptick of 65.9%.

The average annual Medicaid payout in Cincinnati during the two years prior to the pandemic was $366,409,640.

Figures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services show federal and state Medicaid spending totaled about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, or roughly 18% of all national health expenditures—up from around $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

This marks an increase of approximately 40% in just a few years, fueled largely by higher enrollment and increased use of services during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget laws from the Trump administration include major proposals to decrease federal Medicaid spending and restructure the program. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid outlays by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. It also introduces policies such as work requirements and greater cost-sharing, which could lead to lower coverage and funding for some recipients. These adjustments are likely to increase the cost burden on states and constrain the future growth of federal Medicaid funding, while the program continues to cover tens of millions of Americans.

Note: Includes HCPCS codes explicitly labeled for COVID-19 services; totals do not represent all pandemic-related health care spending.

Data for this story was sourced from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The raw data is available here.